Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin Review

The PlayStation VR was easily one of the more anticipated pieces of technology last year. There were plenty of reasons to get excited about it, but since the launch, there haven't been too many must-have games. Fortunately, Double Fine has stepped up to the plate and hit a homerun with Psychonauts In The Rhombus of Ruin.

The story takes place after the events of the original Psychonauts where we find out that the Grand Head of the Psychonauts Truman Zanotto, has been kidnapped. The main character, Raz, and the rest of the crew discover that Truman is being held in underwater at the Rhombus of Ruin, a former Psychonauts lab. On their way, their ship crashes and the crew is separated. Raz has to use his psychic abilities to gather his powers and save Truman Zanotto.

Right from the beginning, you can tell that a lot of time and effort went into creating the world. There are an impressive amount of fine details that most other VR games seem to neglect. At one point I picked up a record and flipped it around to find an actual tracklisting for this fake album. These little inclusions make feel like you're a part of the world rather than a spectator. I feel that I have a lot of experience in VR and there were even times where I almost reached out to grab something that was in front of me.

The gameplay is a lot different than the previous Psychonauts. Instead of being a 3D platformer you use Raz's clairvoyance ability to jump into and out of the minds of the surrounding people or creatures. In fact, you don't walk around at all, and to interact with objects or to jump in the mind of something you simply look at them press a button. The game essentially plays like a point-and-click adventure, where you have to solve puzzles moving objects or combining certain objects. None of the puzzles are overly difficult and with a little bit of trial and error you'll figure them out in no time.

As I mentioned before, to interact with things you have to look at them and press a button on the controller. This generally works fine, but there were a few times where I really felt like I had to stretch my neck and turn my head quite a bit to discover where I had to go to next. This was really the only issue that I had over the three and a half hours that it took me to complete Rhombus of Ruin.

Overall, if you're looking for a new PlayStation VR game, I couldn't recommend Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin enough. The world that Double Fine created is amazing and the characters are as lovable as they've always been. Do yourself a favor and pick this game up!